


Paper Flowers

by lovingmydreams



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Maybe some angst, Prinxiety - Freeform, Slow Burn, but all the fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-20 10:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30003705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovingmydreams/pseuds/lovingmydreams
Summary: Ok. What if, about a year before the series start, Roman and Virgil become friends?That's it, that's the premise. Let's see how things change when anxiety and the prince get along throughout the series.Okay so this story is going to have two perspectives. 1 that of a Fander watching not only Thomas’ video’s but also the community’s response to it. And 2 a third person telling of the going ons in the mindscape between Roman and Virgil. Feel free to contribute to the alternate fandom. Maybe I'll use your comments or ideas in the story. Let’s do this!
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Kudos: 12





	1. Something there

**January 2016  
**Roman was not in a good mood.  
He was helping Thomas rehearse for tonight’s performance and Anxiety was distracting him!  
“Will you shut up about the lights for two minutes!?” he demanded.  
Anxiety glared at him for a moment before smirking. “Sure, want to talk about that creaking floorboard instead? I don’t trust it,” he offered, making Roman throw his hands up and scream to the heavens in frustration. “I am trying to work here!” he pointed out.  
Anxiety shrugged. “So am I,” he states.  
Roman just huffed. Right.  
“Thomas! Ready for a run through?” the director asked.  
“Um… Yeah,” Thomas smiled nervously. That drew the attention of both sides.  
“Well, here goes,” Anxiety sighed.  
“Don’t listen to him Thomas. You’ll do great,” Roman declared.  
“Wait, read over your cues one more time,” Anxiety insisted. And of course, Thomas followed. Roman would complain but these kinds of things did no real harm, quite the opposite, so he’d learned to let these things be. It would be exhausting to put a stop to all of Anxiety’s meddling.  
And when it came to rehearsing lines and the like… Roman occasionally had to concede a point to him.  
Once Thomas took note of his cues for the scene he and his fellow cast members took their places.  
Anxiety made Thomas avoid the creaking board as if it were cursed, but other than that he was only a mild annoyance. And that was when it happened.  
The scene was over and everyone was talking and reading lines as they left the stage, Thomas was telling a story to a fellow actress when Anxiety suddenly jumped.  
“Cables!” he warned and Thomas stepped over the wires, almost absentmindedly. His friend however had been too immersed in the story and tripped.  
“Catch her!” Anxiety ordered. And Thomas, who’d been frozen in shock at first sprung in action to save her from an unpleasant fall.  
“That was close. Guess your inner prince really came through on this one,” she giggled as Thomas helped her regain her balance.  
Roman meanwhile was staring at Anxiety in shock. Did he just…  
Anxiety didn’t notice though, he just left for his room, mumbling something about being exhausted and needing sleep before the premier.  
That was fine. Roman had a lot to think about.  
He went to his own room first an started to compile a list of things he’d seen Anxiety say and do. But he quickly grew frustrated by how incomplete his recollection seemed. So he knocked on Logan’s door.  
“Roman? What brings you here?” Logan asked surprised.  
“Hi calculatorwatch, I was… Talking to Anxiety earlier and he said something that made me wonder… Well could you perhaps give me a log of my conversations with him for the past month? Anything he said when I was in the room with him would be helpful.”  
Logan quirked a brow. “Why are you in need of such information? Surely you recall these conversations yourself?” he wondered.  
“Yes… But I need his exact words. And it’s not like I’m asking for anything he wouldn’t say to my face.”  
Logan seemed to find that explanation good enough as he disappeared for a minute before returning with a thick binder.  
“These are copies so you are free to hold on to them.”  
Roman accepted the binder. “My sincere thanks. I shall see you at dinner.”  
An hour later Roman was just puzzled. Sure there were lots of insults in here from both sides. But… There was also solid evidence that at least half the things Anxiety said might come from a place of genuine care for them all.  
Anxiety had been pushing Thomas to rehears more than Roman ever could get him to do on his own. He had made him call up his friends and family to check in with them. He had him double check if he was up to date on his payments and if his fridge was stocked.  
Roman nodded to himself. He was going to talk to Anxiety about this.  
“What’s up Princey?” Anxiety asked casually as he leaned in his doorframe.  
At least, that morning Roman would have considered it relaxed, he might even have considered his attitude patronizing. But now that he was looking at him, really looking, he saw the tenseness in his posture, the slight panic in his eyes.  
“Anxiety… I would like for you to join me for a walk in the imagination. Something has been brought to my attention that I wish to speak to you about in private,” Roman explained.  
Anxiety pushed himself off the doorframe and shoved his hands, balled to fists Roman noticed, into his hoodie pockets. He turned his face away. Rude, Roman used to think, but now he wondered: was he nervous?  
“Fine,” Anxiety huffed as he closed his door behind him and followed Roman to the door to the imagination.  
When Prince opened the door it showed a forest path. Through the trees to the west you could see the forest was going over a hillside, a late afternoon sun lit up the valley and a quaint little village in the distance.  
“Neat,” Anxiety allowed.  
“Thank you,” Roman said sincerely. Anxiety did a double take at that. Roman could understand. This was the longest they’d ever been in proximity to each other without either of them hurling insults at the other’s head.  
They walked a few minutes in amicable silence.  
“You good Princey?” Anxiety asked after a while.  
“Roman,” he corrected.  
“… what?” Anxiety asked incredulous.  
“As much as I like the nickname, it feels inappropriate for a serious discussion. If you don’t mind,” he elaborated politely.  
“Dude, you are starting to freak me out,” Anxiety hissed.  
“Apologies. I was merely trying to find a good way to formulate this…” Roman stopped walking. The path had led them to the edge of the forest. Roman looked over the valley as he collected his thoughts.  
“I wish to thank you for earlier today. You kept Thomas from falling and getting injured. And after you helped him help his friend. Thank you.” Roman looked at a wide eyed Anxiety. Once his fellow side realized he was caught in his surprise he tried to cover up. Folding his arms in front of his chest and looking away. “Whatever,” he mumbled. “You’re welcome or something.”  
Roman wondered how he had not seen this before. His evasiveness, his defensiveness…  
“And it made me think… A dangerous endeavor I know,” he joked, and he took pride in the fact that he saw Anxiety crack a smile.  
“So I looked back over our encounters for the past month. And looking at your actions without the emotions of the moment involved, got me thinking… That I misjudged you.”  
Anxiety’s head snapped back to him, Roman looked back without fear, this needed to be said.  
“I assumed you were trying to hold Thomas back, to destroy his dreams. But… that is not who you are, is it?”  
Roman watched as Anxiety processed his words, emotions flashing over his face.  
Confusion, shock, fear, panic… And then he could see the walls going up as Virgil took that pose that Roman came to associate with their usual back and forth.  
“You… I’m… What are you playing at? Is this some kind of sick joke Deceit?” he demanded.  
“Rude. That snake wouldn’t be able to open the door to the imagination. Not even if Remus helped him. This is not his territory after all.” Roman pointed out.  
Anxiety looked like he was about to argue, but deflated.  
“Then… Are you having a laugh here? Because I don’t get it.” Anxiety looked Roman over as if he would be able to see the hidden dagger Roman was about to pull out.  
“I am not… I misjudged you. I saw you as an enemy, while I could’ve had you as an ally.”  
He offered his hand. “I propose a truce? A clean start?” he offered.  
Anxiety looked from the hand to Roman’s face, analyzing every inch of his posture..  
Then he nodded. “Okay… On one condition. You don’t tell the others a word.”  
Roman nodded. He’d expected some sort of test of his sincerity. And he was determined to pass.  
“I’ll definitely going to regret this… Fine,” Anxiety sighed as he accepted Roman’s hand.  
They weren’t friends. But there was definitely something there that wasn’t there before.


	2. The prince's enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An olives branch from Roman leads to some bonding.

You sit in your room relaxing before dinner. Homework’s done and social media isn’t going to check in on itself. You are replying to a post one of your friends placed on their wall when a notification pops up. ‘Thomas Sanders just posted a new video’.  
You smile as you finish your message and click the notification. Thomas is one of your favorite creators. And it’s insane what he can do in six seconds.  
The first thing you notice is that it is a return of the prince character. It makes you smile.  
Who doesn’t love a real life Disney prince?  
“Stop you fiend!” the prince declares, standing in what looks like an old concrete building, which probably was meant to create the illusion of an old fortress.  
Then the angle shifts and… Wait that’s not one of Thomas’ friends playing a villain. That’s Thomas wearing a black hoodie with the hood up to mimic a cloak and black eye shadow to make him look more threatening. Which is a tall order for the human cinnamon bun.  
“Prince Dude! My arch nemesis!” villain Thomas growls.  
Then the prince comes back into view. He looks shocked.  
“Wait…” he dramatically brings a hand to his chest. “I’m your arch nemesis?” he asks... Why does he sound so emotional?  
Villain Thomas comes back into view and looks… Flustered? What?  
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to assume…”  
Wait. This is… This is like someone calling their SO boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time. OMG this is the cutest!  
“No!” Prince rushes as he comes back into view. “I just didn’t…” he sighs and shakes his head. “Shall we?” He asks as he raises his sword ready to continue their battle.  
Villain Thomas comes back into view and smirks as he raises his own weapon and nods.  
“Prepare to die!” He declares letting out a battle cry. The camera shows Prince again who lets out a war cry of his own, charging in.  
And that’s the end. You smile to yourself as you leave a like. You’re curious what other fanders think of this new character. Will he ever come back? You hope so.

“Roman it’s so nice of you to include Anxiety in the fun!” Patton cheered when he found out about the new villain character.  
Virgil rolled his eyes. Of course Princey was getting praised. Not that it would occur to Patton how hard it’d been for Virgil to agree to let Thomas use his aesthetic, his identity, to create a new character. Or that his heart was racing at the thought of how much the fans would probably hate it.  
“Think nothing of it Patton. I merely had the idea for a nemesis, and figured that if Thomas played the character himself it would minimize speculation of the fans on any hidden meaning behind the skits. They are almost more eager to see Thomas find a partner than I am, and none of our friends need that kind of attention on them. So when it came to picking out a look, Anxiety’s… Style, seemed fitting. That’s all,” Roman explained, surprising Virgil.  
Roman was passing up on the chance to bask in the praise? Praise he deserved, maybe… A little. Virgil knew that this whole thing was an olive branch from the Prince to him.  
And honestly it was kind of a fun skit. Thomas had a lot of fun making it… But here Roman was, downplaying his good intentions and how thoughtful he’d been about it. He’d asked Virgil’s permission to do this. He never asked Logan or Patton to use their looks for the dad or the teacher character.  
“Speaking off the raisin cookie… Anxiety!” Roman called. Virgil looked up from where he was sulking against the kitchen counter.  
“What?” he scowled.  
“I have a few more skit ideas you’ll probably want to criticize. Let’s get that over with shall we?” Roman suggested casually as he headed to his room.  
Virgil made a point to sigh and roll his eyes in annoyance, grumbling under his breath as he usually would. Patton might not pay enough attention to him to notice anything amiss, but Virgil was pretty sure Logan would ask questions if the two of them started to act too different.  
He entered the fanciful side’s room and took a look around. It was a nice place honestly. Both similar and opposite to his room somehow.  
“Soooo… How did you like the skit?” Roman asked eagerly.  
Virgil shrugged. “It was alright. Thomas really enjoyed it,” he allowed.  
Roman grinned, happy he got some sort of positive feedback from the usually more sullen side.  
“And um… It was really cool of you… What you said to Patton. You didn’t have to. You deserved some sort of, like, praise I guess, even if he didn’t know the real reason why you did,” Virgil muttered then.  
Roman’s eyes widened. Did Anxiety just… Praise him? He hadn’t expected that. He’d corrected Patton because he didn’t want Anxiety to think that he was using their truce to earn extra brownie points with the fatherly side.  
“Thank you Anxiety,” Roman bowed.  
“Don’t mention it,” Virgil shrugged awkwardly.  
There was a silence. Neither knew for sure how to continue from this point. Their interactions usually ended with one of them storming out of the room.  
“Um… Want to watch some tv until Thomas checks up on the comments?” Roman suggested.  
“Yeah, sounds good,” Virgil nodded.  
Roman gestured to the couch and they sat down as far away from each other as possible.  
Virgil chuckled as he realized Roman had put on Avatar.  
“Is there a problem? Mr. moodbender?” Roman asked tensely. Clearly ready to call of the truce if Virgil criticized the show.  
The anxious man shook his head. “No. Just surprised you’re not putting on Disney,”  
Roman rolled his eyes. “I can love things that aren’t Disney, scorned king,” he huffed.  
Virgil nodded, Princey had a point.  
They both mouthed along to the opening narration and smirked at each other while the intro music played.  
“So… What other things do you like Princey?” Virgil started casually.  
Roman blinked in surprise, happy surprise that is. Anxiety was clearly making an effort, showing interest in making this truce evolve to a friendship. It was nice, to know that he was not the only one invested in this.  
“Well it should come as no surprise to you that I adore all things musical.”  
Virgil looked around to all the playbills and smirked. “I would’ve never guessed,” he teased getting a pillow to the face, though it was clearly in good humor.  
“Sush!” Roman chuckled.  
“Anyway. As I was saying…” Roman proceeded to talk about his favorite artists, some of which Virgil admitted to liking as well and Virgil, in return talked about his favorites as well.  
“Oh wait…” Virgil suddenly interrupted as his attention was caught by the screen. Momo had entered the story.  
“This is the part where I got respect for this show,” Virgil divulged.  
“Why’s that?” Roman wondered.  
“Well, on the one hand you have the first time you realize that Zuko isn’t bad. Cause he spares the commanders life. And on the other, the show literally looked at their demographic and said: you kids can handle some genocide. Here is an actual body, confirmed to belong to a character our protagonist cared about,” Virgil explained. “They don’t look down on the kids that watch the show. And they made that clear, very fast. I respect that.”  
Roman thought about that, and he could see Anxiety’s point.  
“Yes, I suppose they didn’t hide their vision for the show at all,” he nodded.  
They continued watching the episode in comfortable silence, both silently noting that they’d moved closer together during their conversation, now only leaving enough distance for both of them to still keep their personal bubble intact.  
“I guess it’s been an hour now…” Virgil muttered as the end credits played. Roman nodded as he paused the tv. Thomas would soon give in and see if anyone had reacted to his recent post.  
“It’ll be alright. Worst case scenario, they don’t like it and we don’t bring the character back,” Roman assured the younger aspect. “I’d be a little disappointed, because I have tons of ideas for your character. But we’ll think of something else,” he assured Virgil, not willing to give up on his plan to make Anxiety feel more wanted in some way because of one hypothetical set back.  
“What if people stop following Thomas because…”  
“Anxiety, we’ve posted videos of much lower quality than this one and they didn’t make people run for the hills,” Roman countered.  
Virgil nodded but curled in on himself anyway. Roman sighed.  
“Things are as they are, we can’t change them now so we might as well face the music. Alright?”  
Virgil took in a deep breath and nodded. That made sense.

“Okay. Let's do this,” he sighed.

Roman smiled and nodded as they watched Tomas ‘casually’ check notifications.

 _Oh no,_ Virgil thought as he could feel the way Thomas' heart skipped a beat when he saw all the likes and shares popping up.

“Comments!!!” Roman cheered.

And indeed. The Fanders had left several comments already. Some keyboardsmashes, some big eyed or hearteyed emoji's. Some one word exclamations like ‘Adorable’, ‘wholesome’ and even ‘perfection’.

Virgil couldn't help smiling as Thomas' excitement grew. He was about to be outed, he knew it.

But he didn't care that much right now.

Because someone demanded Thomas make more vines with his villain character. And another joked that they should call Disney because they found the new big hit Disney Channel show.

He couldn't stop himself from letting out a soft sound of excitement as he played with the sleeves of his hoodie to release some energy. He wanted to jump up and down and scream, Thomas was so happy.

“By Hermes' Sandals! Anxiety! Your eyeshadow!” Roman exclaimed. He'd heard his fellow side’s uncontainable excitement and had looked up, unable to pass up the chance to see the closed off side smile. He had not been ready for this. The layer of white foundation seemed to be less thick revealing it was hiding freckles underneath. That was not the most important part though. The usually black, smudged eyeshadow was brilliant and sparkly and a royal purple.

Anxiety blushed upon being caught but didn’t really stop smiling.

“Yeah, that happens when Thomas gets really excited. Don't make it a big deal,” he shrugged. Roman nodded, understanding that Anxiety meant to ask him not to mention it to the others.

He felt a sense of accomplishment well up inside him. Surely Anxiety had known there was a good chance Thomas would get excited upon seeing the responses to the skit. If he wanted it to be a secret he could've excused himself and hid in his room until the effect wore off. But he hadn't. He'd stayed and taken the risk of being seen. Roman wondered what he’d said or done to make the hooded man want to open up like that. Maybe he’ll ask, some other time.

“Anyway, good job Roman. Seems you’re stuck with me,” Virgil winked as he got up, pulling his hood over his face so he could hide his state until he got to his room.

“Princey, is stuck with the hooded fiend,” Roman corrected. “but I don’t think he minds. And neither do I,” he added while he basked in the glow of the complement.

Virgil felt his smile widen just a bit as he saw how happy Roman was with all this.

Once you gave him a chance he wasn't that annoying.

Virgil had found himself going from wanting someone to not hate him, to wanting Roman to like him over the course of their conversation. Their truce had been tense and awkward up until now. But even so, it had been going surprisingly well. Virgil could tell Roman was looking out for him. By distracting the others when Virgil felt cornered by example. And Virgil had tried to help Princey out as well. Making him go to bed, trying to push Thomas towards creating more content and trying his hardest not to be too, well, mean about actually posting it. And when he sensed Roman was getting overwhelmed by the spotlight he took the attention away from him too.

And now he had shown Roman that he was right. There was more to him than just anxiety. Sometimes he was bright, bouncy and sparkling excitement.

“It suits you by the way,” Roman added, janking Virgil back to the present.

Virgil froze for a second finding he had his hand on the door handle. “Um… thanks, see ya later,” he muttered before rushing out.

He was about to enter his room when he heard someone else call out to him.

“Anxiety kiddo, are you and Roman finished?” The question was friendly enough in and of itself, but as always Patton sounded tense when talking to him which set Virgil on edge. He wasn't that scary right? What did he do to make Patton so scared to be around him?

Sure he was trying to make them keep some distance. But he was going for cautious, not this.

He didn't know what he'd done and he wasn't willing to risk repeating it, so he kept was careful about keeping enough distance between himself and the resident dad as a rule. Now he had an extra reason though.

Virgil nodded, not looking up. Patton's presence might make him nervous in a less fun way but a comment that called his character adorable flashed through his mind and set loose another swarm of butterflies. He was definitely still sparkly.

And if Patton saw, he'd ask about it. And Virgil would have to explain, trapping both of them in this conversation far longer than either wanted. Worse what if seeing evidence of a less broody side of him made Patton feel like he had to make an effort? He'd already managed to make Princey feel like he had to be kind to him. And sure that might be turning into something genuine, but that didn't mean things would work out so well for the others.

Another door opened. “Padre! There you are! I was just about to come looking for you. I had the most marvelous idea!” Virgil chanced a glance at the hallway and saw Roman drag a surprised Patton into his room. The prince locked eyes with him for a second and gave him a reassuring smile and a wink.

Virgil nodded, sending Roman a grateful half-smile, before entering his room.

Virgil had spent mostly all of Thomas' happiest moments in his room. Partly to hide his secret, first from J and Rem who'd probably tease him about it, and now from Thomas' golden three who would never take him serious again if they knew. Or well, two of them, Roman knew now…

Anyway, there was another reason. His room was very nice to be in when excitement dominated Virgil's functions.

It was the same, but lighter. The curtains were open, the clock was no longer a maddening reminder of the never ceasing passage of time, and the spider webs sparkled with dewdrops. Virgil took in a deep breath, even the air was more breathable.

What was it he wanted to scream about again?

Right.

He let himself belly flop onto his bed and screamed.

The fanders liked it! And more importantly, Roman might actually be his friend. He could relate to the villain character right now. Were they friends? They had each other’s back, had bonded over common interests, shared a secret…  
Would Roman consider them friends?  
Maybe he was getting ahead of himself due to the butterflies. But it was definitely going that way.  
Virgil turned around in his bed and looked up at the ceiling with a smile.  
This was different than with Janus and Remus. They’d grown up together, they had to tolerate each other. But this was… Some sort of proof that he was likable. Roman didn’t have to hang out with him. He’d seen something in him and chosen to give him a chance.  
He didn’t have to complement him, but he did and he didn’t turn it on himself right away as he tended to do.  
Remus and Janus were… They just tended to trigger him more often than not. Not on purpose, he knew that, but he’d started having his meals upstairs for a reason.

He shook of that thought. It wasn’t important, he’d catch up with them later today or something. He was sure they’d have some things to say about the video. Maybe some of them would even be genuinely nice.  
He smiled to himself. Look at him being optimistic.  
He was curious though, what he’d find around the riverbend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! If you did, please leave a comment! Lov to hear from you guys!!!


	3. Green-eyed jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Virgil are getting more comfortable around one another and that does not go entirely unnoticed by others, even if it's not completely understood.

“A bit on jealousy would be good,” Virgil muttered in agreement as he looked through the fridge for a snack. It was late. Janus, Logan, and Patton were asleep. And if Remus wasn’t sleeping, then he’d be in his part of the imagination. So Virgil felt safe being himself in the commons.  
It’d been a month since the introduction of his character, and Princey had decided it was time for an encore.  
When they made a vine starring the Prince and Valerie as a fair maiden earlier that week they discovered that amongst the lovely notes were careful pleas to bring the nemesis back.  
“What kind of Jealous though?” Virgil wondered as he spotted some leftover pizza.  
“What do you mean?” Roman asked as he leaned against the kitchen counter next to him.  
“Well is it, ‘Are you cheating on me?’ Jealously, or ‘Hands of he’s mine!’ jealousy?” Virgil clarified as he got up and showed Roman the pizza, silently asking if he wanted some.  
Roman nodded as he thought about the question.  
“Well, I love the drama in the first scenario. But there is something protective about the latter that is just hard to resist,” he mused.  
Virgil nodded thoughtfully as he reheated the pizza.  
“Well, we could try out both. See what works?” he suggested.  
Roman smiled. Anxiety had a hard time suggesting activities to do together, but he tried anyway.  
“Excellent idea!” he exclaimed, not missing the small smile on Anxiety’s lips.  
The pizza was set on the table and both sides took a slice. They brainstormed ideas and in the end, they had a few scenarios they wanted to try out.  
“So I have a different villain at my mercy when you come in,” Roman sets the scene.  
Virgil nodded and took a deep breath, getting into character. In the previous scene, he’d played the ‘am I not enough?’ angle. This time, Roman wanted to go more for betrayal.  
“What the frick do you think you are doing?” he demanded as he charged at the prince.  
Roman looked up shocked before being yanked by the sash.  
Virgil looked down at the floor where the villain was supposed to be. “Stay out of this!”  
Then he looked back at Roman. “Are my feelings a joke to you?” he demanded.  
“I…” Roman started, almost actually afraid of Anxiety. But he’d seen him tear up during Lillo and Stitch only days ago, and remembering that helped to keep him grounded.  
“Spare me your excuses, sir underarm stink! I’ll show you what a real villain is!” he growled as he raised his hand as if readying a spell.  
“What is going on here?!”  
Virgil let go of Roman and jumped back at once. It was no longer safe in the kitchen. He was caught. This was it. The end for him. Either they'd all find out now or they would ban him from the upper conscious forever cause they believed he really was going to harm Roman.  
Roman, knowing that Anxiety was probably panicking and that he couldn't address that right now, turned around to face their company surprised. It was Patton and he looked rather frightened.  
Roman smiled brilliantly at the fatherly side, stepping forward and to the side to shield his friend, giving him the chance to gather his bearings before having to face Patton directly.  
“Padre! What brings you down here at…” He glanced at the clock. “Two in the morning?” he asked.  
Patton looked him up and down confused. “I heard shouting and came to see what was going on… Are you two alright? What were you doing?” Patton asked worriedly.  
Roman chuckled, a little nervously. He wasn’t sure what he could tell Patton without breaking his promise to Anxiety. The scene Patton walked in on must’ve looked quite worrisome. How to convince him that it was all in good fun?  
“Princey wanted to pitch some ideas, and since I was already up, I was the lucky guy who got to listen to his rant. We were trying some stuff out,” Virgil drawled tiredly as he stepped around Roman, his guard back in place.  
Roman relaxed, relieved Anxiety had taken charge. Then he turned to him with a haughty/teasing expression, crossing his arms and cocking his brow. “Oh, please! You liked it! Don’t even try to deny it,” he scoffed.  
Anxiety rolled his eyes. “Whatever. This won’t work for a vine anyway. It’s too much trouble to have the Prince and the Nemesis interact like that. It’ll be too much work, he’ll get tired of it before we get past the planning stage,” he pointed out. “I’m going to bed,” he announced.  
Roman was slightly disappointed. They always had to cut their bonding time short because of stuff like this.  
“Okay, goodnight kiddo,” Patton smiled tentatively.  
“Night,” Anxiety huffed before disappearing up the stairs.  
Roman stretched. “Well, I should get some sleep as well,” he allowed before setting the dishes in the dishwasher.   
“How did you get him to do that?” Patton wondered. Roman shot up confused.  
“Do what?” he asked.  
“Talk with you. He doesn’t… you two don’t like each other. Right?” Patton was playing with the hem of his pj’s nervously not quite meeting Roman’s eyes.  
Roman just chuckled carelessly as he explained himself, though he skipped around addressing his and Anxiety's less than friendly past dynamic. “Well, you know me. Once I get something in my head…” he shrugged. “He must’ve realized resistance was futile. And the chance to threaten me without any consequences must’ve been inviting.” He patted Patton on the shoulder in passing.  
“Sorry for waking you up padre. It won’t happen again.” And Roman meant it. He just had an excellent idea.  
Virgil had just settled back into his bed when there was a quick, light knock on his door.  
Patton probably wanted to berate him. He probably didn’t believe he’d done nothing wrong and was going to tell him off for whatever he thought he had been doing to Princey.  
Well, better get it over with. Waiting would only make it worse.  
Virgil got up and opened the door, only to find Roman rushing past him.  
“Wha… Princey!” he whispers yelled as he closed the door. “You know you can’t be in here!”  
Two weeks ago, Roman had had the splendid idea to spent as long as he could in Virgil’s room to understand him better. Of course, the cautious side hadn’t been a fan of the idea but Roman was adamant and had made the excellent point that as long as Virgil was in the room with him, he could kick him out whenever necessary.  
Roman got a lot more respect for Virgil and Virgil for Roman. They agreed to never let it get that bad again though  
“I won't be long, forlorn ranger,” Roman assured him grandly, smiling from ear to ear his eyes sparkling. It made Virgil hold off on kicking him out. This was unstained, genuine excitement. By now Virgil knew Roman’s tells and right now he wasn't showing any. And anything that got Roman like this was worth at least listening to.  
Roman made a flourish with his hand and showed Virgil an elegant silver key.  
“A gift to commemorate one month of friendship!" He declared proudly. Virgil accepted the key speechless. He struggled to voice what this meant to him. It was tangible proof that Roman considered them friends. That the doubts that plagued him were wrong. It wasn't just some wishful thinking. He genuinely cared enough to call him that. To get him any sort of gift at all.  
"I -thanks..." he muttered a little flustered. "I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything... I didn't know we were supposed to exchange gifts and..." Before Virgil could spiral, Roman put up a placating hand.  
He'd expected Anxiety to do something like this. And he'd prepared his answer.  
"We weren't. I simply decided to give you this, the occasion was a last-minute addition. Now, if you would be so kind as to open the door?" Roman suggested, vibrating with excitement as he turned Virgil to the room. Problem was, other than his closet door, there were none.  
"What door?"  
Roman chuckled to himself. "Come on Scooby Boo. Use your imagination," he teased.  
Virgil sighed. He felt very silly imagining a door in front of him and even considering to try and open it. But, he'd come to trust Roman. So he gave it a try. And to his surprise he felt the key slide into a lock he turned it and heard a click. There was now a door-sized rectangle in front of him made of light. As if it was peering through the cracks of a door. Suddenly his sight was taken by a warm pair of calloused hands.  
"Don't freak out. I just want it to be a surprise," Roman explained. A smile evident in his voice.  
A smile that grew wider as he heard Anxiety let out a resigned sigh. He was going to play along!  
Virgil pulled the key from the lock and the door swung over. Even with his eyes closed and covered he could tell that it was bright on the other side. He could feel a gentle breeze hit his face as Roman guided him over the threshold.  
They were walking through low-growing vegetation, or it felt like that.  
He could hear something... "Is that 'twinkle twinkle little star'?" He wondered surprised.  
Roman just chuckled and moved them farther into the world behind the door. Leaving Virgil to notice that it smelled like a candy store.  
"Okay, ready?" Roman asked though he didn't give Anxiety the chance to make a witty remark. He took away his hands and immediately stepped to the side so that he could see Anxiety react without ruining the view.  
It was everything he hoped it would be.  
Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Virgil was dumbstruck as he took in the purple sky and the cotton candy clouds. He looked down at the field he was standing in and let out an astonished laugh. He turned to Roman who grinned at his now deep purple eyeshadow.  
“A field of paper flowers… you’ve listened to Evanescence,” he concluded.  
Roman shrugged. They have a way of evoking beautiful images,” he allows.  
“You and only you can use that key to open a door anywhere in the mindscape. To leave you simply use your door to get to your room.” Roman turned and gestured to the direction they’d come from. Now Virgil could see there were 2 doors in the field. One black with silver webs painted on it and one red with golden flowers. The black door was open and showed Virgil's room.  
“If you want to visit me or wish to speak with me for any reason, even just for a chat. Simply knock. I will come as fast as I can. I have my own key and I will knock on your door should I find myself in need of your sulking presence.” They both chuckled.  
“Thank you, Roman. You didn't have to do this,” Virgil told him as he tried to think of a good gift in return.  
Roman waved him off. “I wanted to. It's a gift for me too. Now we can visit each other and do whatever we want without risking someone seeing us sneaking around.” Roman turned his head to Virgil and gave him a long look to convey how much he meant his next words. “I enjoy your company, Anxiety. And I want the both of us to be able to enjoy quality time without looking over our shoulders.”  
Virgil had to look away for a moment to collect his thoughts, and as he did so, he realized what he could give Roman. It wasn't perfect, but hopefully Roman would appreciate the sentiment.  
“Virgil,” he said, trying very hard to sound casual but he was sure Roman could tell he was dying inside. He looked back at Roman who was… surprised, awed, and moved.  
Virgil managed a smirk. “You can call me Virge.”

You sit in your room working on a little comic inspired by characters made by your favorite online personality.  
Thomas Sanders.  
You’re not going to post it though. Who cares about a comic about how a prince met his arch-nemesis. Your phone buzzes and you pick it up. Messenger, junk mail. You decide to see what else went on while your phone was charging at home.  
You scroll through and realize there is a not from Thomas' vine account. Well speak of the angel and he shall appear in your notices about 8 hours earlier.  
You click the note and find the prince, seemingly injured, laying on the floor. Unarmed and helpless staring down the end of his opponent's blade.  
“This is the end! Hero!” the villain exclaims. But before he strikes the camera seems to move real fast, blurring the world. But then, nemesis is glaring back at the camera which is looking up at him from the ground. Prince POV?  
“I’ll deal with you later,” he promises before turning to the villain. The camera changes spot again and is filming the villains in profile.  
“That is my arch-nemesis. Not yours, so back off!” he growls. Then he looks back. The scene shifts to an empty room. He got away.  
Nemesis turns back to the other villain readying a spell.  
The villain screamed in fear, the nemesis in rage.  
You leave a like and scroll through the comments. As you read you start smiling. You bounce in your seat as you read there are others who love this duo. Maybe you’ll publish the comic after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know with a kudo or a comment!


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